Challenging viewers did not disappear for Ms. Foster as she
matured. If the masterful Taxi Driver drew critics, they would
have a field day after her stunning performances as a rape
survivor in ‘The Accused’ and as Special Agent
Clarice Starling in the hit thriller 'The Silence of the
Lambs'which earned her two Academy Awards® for Best
Actress and a reputation as one of the most critically acclaimed,
and daring actresses of her generation. ‘Normal is not
something to aspire to,’ she once stated, ‘it's
something to get away from.’ Intelligent (she graduated
with honors from Yale University in 1985, earning a B.A. in
literature), beautiful (her loveliness fueled the fire of
Hollywood’s most memorable crazies), and talented beyond
compare (For her role in ‘The Silence of the Lambs,’
Ms. Foster was also awarded a Golden Globe® Award, a British
Academy Award, a New York Film Critics Award and a Chicago Film
Critics Award), she is not only among the finest female actors of
our time, but she is among the finest of all time and all
gender.
Concerning her roles, Ms. Foster states, ‘I guess I've
played a lot of victims, but that's what a lot of the history of
women is about.’ Yet this brilliant artist takes that, and
in the film ‘The Brave One,’ gets
revenge. She states, ‘I have, in some ways, saved
characters that have been marginalized by society by playing
them, and having them still have dignity and still survive, still
get through it.’ Most recently audiences saw Jodie star in
the Fox Walden film ‘Nim’s Island’ with Gerard
Butler.
In addition to her acting, Jodie Foster has always had a strong
interest in the art of filmmaking. Ms. Foster made her motion
picture directorial debut in 1991 with the highly acclaimed
‘Little Man Tate,’ in which she also starred. In
1995, She directed her second film, ‘Home for the
Holidays’, which she also produced. The film starred Holly
Hunter, Anne Bancroft and Robert Downey Jr. Her approach to
filmmaking, is little different than her actable choices. She
approaches each film not as mere fluff to sell, but as art to
influence culture. Of this Jodie Foster states, ‘I've
always had this idea that I wanted movies to make people better
not worse.’
Jodie Foster founded Egg Pictures in 1992 and the company
produced ‘Nell’ (1994), which did just that, and for
which she earned an Academy Award® nomination for Best
Actress; ‘Home for the Holidays’ (1995); the Showtime
telefilm ‘The Baby Dance’ (1998) which received a
Peabody Award, four Emmy® Award nominations and three Golden
Globe® Award nominations, as well as USA Films’
‘Waking the Dead,’ directed by Keith Gordon starring
Billy Crudup and Jennifer Connelly. In 1996, Egg presented the
award-winning, intense French film ‘Hate’ in the
United States. Egg Pictures most recently produced ‘The
Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys’ (2001) which received great
acclaim. Ms. Foster's next films anticipated are the ‘Leni
Riefenstahl biopic’, and ‘Flora Plum.’
By Bruce Edwin, with kind courtesy of the office of publicity of
Jodie Foster.
©2009,The Hollywood Sentinel ®